Who Is Michelle Obama's Chief Of Staff, Melissa Winter?

If you've never heard of Melissa Winter before, it's likely because she's so good at her job. Michelle Obama's chief of staff has always quietly worked behind the scenes — and that's how she likes it. The former first lady has undergone a stunning transformation over the years, and Winter has been at her side through it all. Her interest in politics was purely accidental since Winter's brother was the one who wanted to go into the field, but when he obtained two internships, Winter's mother encouraged her to take her brother's place in the remaining one, which she'd already paid for. Winter was more interested in the idea of actually being of legal drinking age once she landed in Washington D.C. than politics, but soon realized that she'd accidentally stumbled upon her dream job. 

"I interned with a Texas congressman, John Bryant. I loved that job," Winter proudly detailed to Cosmopolitan in a 2017 interview. She quickly turned into a true pundit during her time working in Capitol Hill and asked if she could return for a paid internship the following year. "I wrote to the program that I interned through and said I wanted to be an RA so I could have my housing covered at Georgetown. They all said yes, for some reason. I came back that second summer and it really solidified the path forward for me in public service," Winter explained to Argent.

The first lady's future chief of staff loved her job and never imagined leaving Washington for Chicago to work for the wife of a presidential nominee, but that's exactly what happened after one of her friends, who happened to work for then-Senator Barack Obama at the time, insisted she meet her boss' wife, Michelle.

After much persuasion from her friend, Melissa Winter eventually agreed to meet with Michelle Obama, and the two women hit it off instantly. "I loved everything she had to say. She's so grounded and she was so clear about, 'I'm not really into this. My husband would be a great president, but we're not playing,'" Winter recalled during an episode of the "Work Friends" podcast. Upon returning to Washington, she immediately quit her job on Capitol Hill, packed up, and headed to Chicago to work for Obama and the rest is history. "To this day, I don't know what came over me. I'm not a risk-taker by nature," Winter confessed to Cosmopolitan.

One might say it was fate. Obama and Winter weren't simply great co-workers, they also became fast friends with a strong mutual respect for one another. Winter has organized the former first lady and her daughters, Malia and Sasha Obama's lives for years and there's still nothing else she'd rather do. Michelle once described Winter as one of her "most trusted advisors and dearest friends" during a chat with the Washington Post. This praise was well-deserved too since Winter has been the former first lady's biggest cheerleader — both in and outside of the White House.

In her Netflix documentary "Becoming," which chronicles Michelle's early life and the road to the White House, Winter can be spotted supporting the bestselling author on her post-White House book tour. This is notably one of the things Winter loves most about what she does. "One of the most interesting parts of this job, which I never predicted, is the variety of things that I'm learning and getting access to," she told Argent. "I feel like this is what I've been working towards."